


Old Town Church

by krazikrys



Category: Backstreet Boys
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2019-10-27
Packaged: 2021-01-03 04:11:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21173213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/krazikrys/pseuds/krazikrys
Summary: Brian Littrell is looking for a small old town church for a project. It just so happens that I attend one. So what is it that he's planning?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Don't know them. Only met Baylee and Leighanne. Of course, forgot to ask about ficcing them! LOL But I really do live in a small town with a little old church.

I almost never look at Instagram stories. There’s been a rare occasion that I do. I was glad I actually saw that Brian had updated his and I actually watched it. It was about eight months after I had met his son. That picture was still my profile pic. As I was getting on Instagram that day, I saw his story had changed. So I clicked on it. It was a single screenshot that said:

Looking for a location!  
Old church.  
Small Town.  
Possible video shoot.  
DM pics.

He never used the DM feature. I thought initially it had to be a hoax. But I double-checked the account and saw that it was his actual account and not one of the fakers running around.

Figuring it wouldn’t hurt, I scrolled through my phone and found the pictures I had of the outside of my church. It was actually nearly 150 years old. I then went and took a few pictures of the post office, the library, the school, the sign coming into town. I sent them all and told him that our town was approximately two thousand people and a little off the beaten path. I included my email and then promptly forgot about it.

Two weeks later, I got an email from “management@brianlittrell.com.” I hesitantly opened the email, thinking it had to be a hoax.

> Thank you for your submission. After going through the hundreds of direct messages and photos, we have narrowed our search to three towns. We would like to visit your town within the coming weeks. We would need access to the city for permitting and the church as well. There may be others that need to be contacted upon our arrival. Please reply to this email so that we may begin preparations to schedule our scouting visit.

I stared at my computer screen. This had to be a hoax. There was no way someone close to the Littrells was gonna come out and scope my town for a video shoot! I decided to take a chance and replied back with the city’s website, the county’s website, in case they wanted to use our little dinky library, and the phone number and email of the pastor of my church. As soon as I sent the email, I immediately called my pastor and filled her in on what had happened. She was overjoyed that this might even be a possibility and promised to message the trustees and get whatever we needed to be approved.

I let it be and didn't think anything of it. Two weeks later, at work, my phone pinged. Glancing at it, I saw it was an email. Shrugging, I let it be until I was off the clock. As I walked to the car, I glanced at my phone. It was another email from the management address. It said that the "scout team" would be out the following morning. I stopped in the middle of the parking lot and reread the email. It said that they would be arriving around nine at the church and they wanted to meet me. I squealed and hurried to my car. I didn’t remember the drive home, what I did that night or anything else. All I knew was that I got the kids off to school, ran home, changed my clothes and walked down to the church with my headphones plugged into my cell phone. I knew I called my pastor that night because the sanctuary doors were unlocked. I at least remembered to peek inside and saw her sitting in the first pew. She waved and I told them I was going to wait outside for our guests. She said she’d wait there. I then sat down on the concrete stairs leading to our church. I had my phone out with my earbuds in. I had Baylee's album on repeat. I kept glancing at the street, waiting.

A little after nine, a black SUV with tinted windows pulled to a stop in front of the church. Knowing this had to be who I was waiting for, I pulled my earbuds and stood up. The rear passenger door opened and before I knew what was happening, I was engulfed in a hug being spun around. "Oh, I thought it was you," the voice said in my ear. 

As I was set down on the ground, I looked up and saw blue eyes and curly blonde hair. I grinned. “It’s good to see you again, Baylee,” I said.

“I told Mom it was you, but she didn’t believe me. I even showed her your profile pic, but she wasn’t convinced,” the teenager blabbed at me.

I glanced around the young man, whom I swear had grown two inches since I had seen him in August, and there was his mom, a tall, pretty blonde getting out of the front seat of the car. Baylee turned around and said to his mom, “See. I knew I was right.”

I grinned as she came over and gave me a hug. “He bugged me the whole way here,” she said, stepping back. “He kept saying you were the one who lost everything and came to see him.” 

I smiled. “Aw. I’m so glad you remember me.” I looked at her. “Sorry, he blabbed your ear off for an hour.”

She grinned. “It didn’t bother me. I can’t speak for the rest of the car though.”

“I’m so sorry,” I said. “I’ve never had that impact…” I didn’t see the two men get out of the vehicle on the other side, but stopped mid-sentence when Brian Littrell walked up and said, “Why does my whole family seem to know you?”

I stared for a moment before I regained my composure. “Well, uh, you’re a little bit more expensive than your son.” I watched as this man in jeans and a tee-shirt tipped his head to the side. “Well, actually, you guys are the same price if I broke you out, but multiply by five and you jump out of my price range.”

After a moment of stunned silence, Brian laughed. I was glad. I wasn’t sure I made a whole lot of sense right then and I was being rather facetious, which was my nature. I was glad he caught onto my sense of humor. He shrugged. “So is this your church?” he asked, looking up at the white building with the steeple.

I nodded. “Yeah. It’s almost a hundred and fifty years old. There’s a real bell in the steeple too.” I led the four people up the stairs. Holding open the door, I let Brian and Leighanne enter into the sanctuary first. As I followed behind them, I saw my pastor sitting in the first pew. I heard the gasps from both Brian and Leighanne in front of me. They both were staring at the room around them. The few rows of pews. The altar with the pulpit to the left and lecturn to the right. I glimpsed my pastor as she stood up and held up my hand to her. We both knew there was something about standing in a sanctuary like the one we were in.

Brian stopped two pews up the center aisle and stared. He turned around slowly and grabbed his wife’s hands. “This… This was the church I pictured when I wrote this song.” 

I grinned and slipped off to the side as I hurried up to meet my pastor and then make the introductions when the shock wore off. Once introductions were made and blessings passed around, I let my pastor lead them on a quick little tour of the church. I knew it wouldn’t take long. I didn’t see Baylee slip back outside though while they were gone. I sat in one of the pews and just enjoyed the silence. It seemed like everything lined up because Baylee was bounding back into the sanctuary right as my pastor was leading Brian and Leighanne back inside as well.

“Dad, you have got to check the acoustics, you know that.”

I tried to hide a giggle as I watched Baylee set a guitar case on the pew up front and open it. 

“I can’t spoil the surprise though,” Brian said, as he took the guitar from his son. Looking at me, he said, “Any requests?”

I grinned as my hand slid to the phone in my pocket. I stood up as Brian and Baylee lowered themselves side by side on the three steps leading to the altar. “The only song of yours that fits is ‘I’m Alive’,” I said softly.

Brian looked at me closely. “It won’t sound the same,” he told me.

I nodded. “I know. Acoustic…” I paused, “Your voice. It’s okay.”

He glanced to his right at his son. “I don’t think I’ve done this one this way in a long time. You’ll back me, right?”

Baylee grinned and then looked at me. “This is a one-time thing.”

I nodded and watched as they had a brief discussion amongst themselves and then hit the record button on my phone as he started playing the one song that I adored. Somewhere around the first chorus, tears started to pour from my eyes. Somehow I managed to keep my phone steady while tears just streamed down my face. When he finished the song, I stopped recording. He handed the guitar to his son and stood up. Without warning, he walked over to me and wrapped his arms around me. I sobbed into his chest, my phone in my hand. I could hear his voice but didn’t register what he was saying. It didn’t dawn on me he was praying until I felt three hands laid on my back. I didn’t even realize that my pastor was still around. When I was finally able to stop the tears and take a step back, Brian placed his hands on my arms. “Are you okay?” he asked softly.

I wiped my eyes and looked at him. “I’m sorry,” I said. He shook his head at me as if to say it wasn’t a problem. “I don’t know what that was.” I had a feeling I really did know what it was; that it was everything that had happened over the past year and a half bubbling to the surface. I sighed and looked over at my pastor. “You wanna get the trustees on board? I’ll talk to Mom tonight, but I have a feeling this is a done deal.” She nodded and excused herself while I led the Littrells and their production director outside. “Let me walk you up to city hall so you can figure out what you need.” I was still drying my eyes as Baylee put the guitar back in the trunk of the SUV and I led the way up one block to city hall. I told the Littrells that it might be best to wait outside as the inside was a little small for five people.

As we were standing outside, Leighanne showed me a black and white photo of me hugging Brian. His head was on top of mine and my face was buried in his chest. I smiled and covered my eyes.

“Send that to me,” Brian said. He then turned to me, “Are you okay if I Instagram this?”

I nodded but kind of turned away from him, being overwhelmed at the moment. I walked out of the little parking lot and down the street a bit to a bench. Sitting down, I stared at the ground. After a moment, I felt someone come up beside me. “Hey,” Brian said softly. I glanced at him. “Bay said something in the car about losing everything and that seeing him was the first thing you did for yourself.”

I nodded. “Yeah,” I mumbled. “The morning before ‘Chances’ came out, I lost everything in the Camp Fire.” I went on to tell him everything that had gone on in the past year and a half. Moving, working up there, everything. He sat there in silence and listened. As I finished, he grabbed my phone from my hand. I didn’t ask what he was doing, but he handed it back to me a moment later. It was my contact screen. He had added his phone number but left the name blank. I stared at it a minute before adding one letter, “B” and hitting save.

“Don’t tell anyone,” he told me. I nodded. “If you need me, but I think I’ll be back.” I nodded again.

Standing up, I said, “Let me show you downtown and what little we have.” We walked back over the few feet to the city hall building and I led the four out of towners on a brief walking tour of the few blocks that was our town. I heard the production director say to Brian that the city needed at least thirty days to run the permit but that everything looked in order so they could begin within a month.

I led the group back to the church after there had been photos taken of various sites around town. As they were climbing into the car, Brian hugged me one last time. “I’ll see you again, I’m sure,” he said softly.

I nodded, relishing the hug and watching him climb into the car. As they drove away, I wasn’t sure I was ready for the craziness that was to come.


	2. Chapter 2

The first bit of craziness came after I saw the Instagram he posted later that night. It was the photo his wife had taken. Thankfully he didn’t tag me in it. The caption was classic Brian when he was in a mood: short, sweet, and to the point. The caption simply said, “Right place, right time, right song.” I, of course, loved it and commented on it, but didn’t mention it was me in the photo. Shocking me, I got a reply from him! It was a simple “Thanks.” I screen-capped that and then posted it to my own Instagram, which then lit up with my friends congratulating me. Not many got comments from Brian. 

I slid over to my text messages and sent him one. “Hey. It’s me. In the photo. I’m not gonna release anything about this unless you say it’s okay. But, can I share that photo and actually claim I met you?”

I instantly got a winky face back. And then the photo sent directly to my messages so I didn’t have to repost it.

I waited a day to share the photo. My caption was the same as Brian’s, but I added that I was the one in the photo.

That’s when my Instagram exploded with my friends. I immediately had comments of “When did you meet him?” “Where did this happen?” I grinned as my messenger started pinging. I calmed my friends down and told them I couldn’t tell them much but that it had been a few days and it had been a coincidence that I had met him. Thankfully they all believed that.

The flurry around the church was the next bit of craziness I dealt with. I watched as our church somehow managed to be painted and some minor things that had been neglected actually be taken care of.

About three weeks after I had met the Littrells, I felt compelled to text Brian again. “Hey, I wanna post the video. Maybe a snip of it.”

The response I got was, “Don’t tell why we were there.”

“Of course,” I replied. “Not my news to share.”

“So glad you get it,” was the response.

“Yeah,” I texted back. “And you owe me a selfie.”

He sent me a shocked face. “Did we not do one?”

“Nope. I cried on you. Probably better, but when you get back here, you owe me.”

I got a thumbs-up emoji.

The next text message I got was on a Saturday a couple of weeks later. It simply said, “Headed your way today.” I grinned, but couldn’t figure out how to reply. I opened Instagram and saw a photo of all three of them on Brian’s account. “Family office chair today,” he said in the caption. There was also a similar one from Leighanne, saying, “Joining Husband in the office chair today. Can’t wait to share this with you.”

When I arrived at church the next day, there were signs from the city along the sidewalk, saying that the road would be closed and there would be no parking for a “special event” the next two days. It kind of startled a few of our members who hadn’t heard the news by then, but most in our small church knew that there was a video shoot going to take place during the week. As soon as service was over, I headed back into the sanctuary with the few youths that had come. They had volunteered to help me put the sanctuary back in order. It literally only took us a few minutes to pick up the few programs in the pews and put the hymnals back and just straighten up.

As I led them into our fellowship hall, I was asked questions by others in the church about how the next day would run. I had no idea. But one of the ladies in our church said she was coming by at seven with coffee from Starbucks and donuts as well. I grinned and thanked her saying I had no idea how many were coming. Thankfully she knew. The team wasn’t that large, but about twenty. I just told her that I was going to be there, hanging across the street.

And that was the truth. After I dropped the kids off at school the next morning, I snagged my phone and my keys and walked the two blocks to the church. It was shortly after eight and there was a flurry of activity. There were cars and equipment everywhere. I stopped at the corner and stared at the activity. I reached for my phone and pulled up Brian’s message stream. I sent him a text that said, “I’m here, are you?”

I didn’t get a response. Instead, I saw a door open on a small trailer parked down by the office/education building. Brian walked out and stood in the middle of the street, looking for me. I waved and he came over to me. “Hey,” he said, as he approached. He grabbed my hand and led me around the barrier. He introduced me to everyone and led me over to a spot to watch the current scene, which was happening on the front steps of our church. I felt so blessed hanging out there that morning. As the time inched towards me needing to leave to go to work, I looked over at Brian. He was on a short break. I was trying to piece this song of his together in my head, but it wasn’t working. I stared at the church across the street from where I was sitting.

Brian walked over and sat next to me on the rolled curb. “Hey, how goes it?”

I shrugged. “I wanna call into work, but I need to be there for my kids.”

“We’ll be back tomorrow. Got some more to do in the morning.” I nodded. “Hey, don’t I owe you a selfie?”

I grinned. “Yeah.”

“Lemme do one better.” I stared at him as he pulled out his iPhone. He held his phone out, flipped the camera so we could see and put his arm around my shoulder. He then hit record. “I’m out here at a secret location, working on a secret project. I can’t wait until this is ready to share with all of you. If you want a sneak peek of what _might_ be coming your way, check this one’s Instagram.”

I looked at him and said, “Okay, quit spilling secrets and go back to work.”

He grinned, shrugged, and said, “Well, I guess that’s it. Gotta go!” Before he stopped the video, he leaned over and kissed my cheek, making sure he snapped it as a picture too. The shocked look on my face was real because I hadn’t expected that at all.

As he pulled away from me, he looked at his phone and I heard my phone ping. There were three pictures in my messages from him. I grinned. “Guess that is better,” I said softly, saving each one.

“I’m gonna tag you, okay?” I nodded and watched as he uploaded the video to Instagram and double-checked my handle before he actually posted it.

A moment later my phone pinged and I looked at it. There was a message from Instagram saying he had tagged me. I screen-capped it and then said, “You wanna see the fandom blow up?”

He grinned. “Sure,” he stated, stepping over to lean over my shoulder. I took the screencap and uploaded it to my Instagram. The caption was, “I just hit the Insta Jackpot. Forget likes or comments. I just got tagged!” Once I uploaded it, I copied the link into a group chat I was in with a bunch of fans. And moments after I did that, my phone pinged multiple times so that it sounded like a blur. Brian laughed out loud as I got chat bubble after chat bubble of my friends appearing along the side of my phone. Then my friend Heather actually sent me a text message: “He tagged you?!?!?!?!?!”

I giggled as I looked up at Brian. “See what you did?” He shrugged as I replied, “Yes, go look.” 

I waited a moment and then I got another text message, "OMG!!!!! You're in his video?!?!?!?!" Before I could answer, another text came through, "Are you with him now?"

I glanced over my shoulder at Brian. “What should I say?” He shot me a pleading look not to spoil his surprise, that I now knew was a new single, video and possibly an album down the line. Sighing, I looked at my phone before texting back, “It was yesterday.”

“Really?” the reply came.

Sighing again, I looked at my phone and took my time typing. “Yes. I met him by accident with that picture and video I shared. Yesterday involved a little ‘hunting,’ but it was worth it.”

A moment later, “You think? He kissed you!”

I could almost hear Heather’s voice in my head as I read it. I sent her a huge grinning smiley face and then turned my phone to silent. Glancing at Brian, I grinned. “She’ll make me remember it forever,” I told him. He nodded as his wife and son came over. I took a breath and then said, “You know, they’re all gonna be on about pics or it didn’t happen. So can we do a few just to make my life complete?”

“Of course!” Brian told me. That was when the flurry of photos happened. I got my photo of me hugging Brian. And he appeased my crazy side and let me jump into his arms, his wife laughing all the way. I did a few with Leighanne and a couple more with Baylee and then set up the epic shot that I knew I was gonna post on Instagram. It was the four of us, all squished together into a selfie. I knew what the caption was going to be on that one.

A little while later, I had to say goodbye so I could go to work. I promised to show up the next morning, which I did. And I stayed until noon, which was when the Littrells were leaving. They had a flight to catch that afternoon, even though there were a few more shots and things to be taken care of before the rest of the crew left. The whole family gave me huge hugs before they left that day, Brian whispering in my ear that he now understood why his son was taken by me. He said he wouldn’t change his number but asked me not to abuse it, which I told him I would only text bomb him in the middle of a show. He laughed and shook his head. “I’m looking at about a month, or so,” he said before climbing in the car. “But I will let you know.” I nodded and watched as they drove away turning the corner to head back to the highway.

The day after they left, I posted the picture of Brian kissing me on the cheek, followed by him hugging me. The last photo I posted on my Instagram was of the family and myself. I tagged all three of them and managed to get all of them to like the photo and Brian to comment with a laughing emoji based on my caption: “One of these things is not like the other…” with music notes on either side. My friends were beside themselves with all the comments and likes the Littrells threw me on those photos. I think I had to charge my phone a few times a day for a while.

Things eventually slowed down until two months later, I received a random text from Brian saying that his new website was going live the next day with the video to follow on Friday. And boy did things pick up that Tuesday. Everyone was buzzing that “brianlittrell.com” was active. And they were wondering what it meant. I knew but kept my mouth shut. On Thursday night, he posted a new video saying that he was so proud of what he was about to put out and he hoped we enjoyed it. And he thanked me for showing him what I did. There was another tag on my Instagram from it and my friends kept me up half the night talking about it. And then the following day when he dropped the video, they all sent me virtual hugs and love when they realized it was my small town church that was in the video. Thankfully, they all forgave me for keeping my mouth shut and understood that I couldn’t say much until then.


End file.
